Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

Which person has had a more successful post-Saturday Night Live career? There are a number of criteria which define success, amongst them popularity, quality of work, respect from their peers, and financial gain.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

A lot of these guys have gone on to make some funny, successful films, but only Bill Murray was able to transcend the goofy SNL schtick and do some really great work.

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I'm leaning towards Will Ferrell as of recently. Overall, maybe Eddie Murphy.

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I think its interesting to see how we judge "success". Personally, if Eddie Murphy had died in a car crash in 1988, he wins this poll easily.

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Is Steve Martin not included in this because he was "the host" of most of season one and not technically a cast member?

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I'm a huge Murray fan, but even I can't think of any criteria in which Murphy should not be winning. Anyone who thinks otherwise is too young to realize how huge of a star he was in the 80's. And it was well earned.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

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Is Steve Martin not included in this because he was "the host" of most of season one and not technically a cast member?

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I agree that Steve Martin should be in the poll. But he still finishes 2nd behind Bill Murray.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

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I'm a huge Murray fan, but even I can't think of any criteria in which Murphy should not be winning. Anyone who thinks otherwise is too young to realize how huge of a star he was in the 80's. And it was well earned.

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I don't know, I think Murrays continuous success vs Murphys 8 years of superstardom makes it close.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

Sandler and Myers make more per picture, by a wide margin, than any of the rest of these.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

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Is Steve Martin not included in this because he was "the host" of most of season one and not technically a cast member?

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Yes. Only actual cast members and featured players were included.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

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I'm a huge Murray fan, but even I can't think of any criteria in which Murphy should not be winning. Anyone who thinks otherwise is too young to realize how huge of a star he was in the 80's. And it was well earned.

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I don't know, I think Murrays continuous success vs Murphys 8 years of superstardom makes it close.

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This success you speak of is what exactly? Indie cred? He has undoubtedly made some great movies over the years. Somehow, the absolute stinkers and mail-ins go completely unnoticed. Regardless, a solid 30 year career is nowhere near as successful as being the biggest star in the world for a decade.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

Outside of Ghostbusters, Stripes, and Groundhog Day, Murray's pictures have not done great boxoffice.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

I voted Bill Murray. I think that Billy Crystal and Robert Downey Jr should have been in the poll.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

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I'm a huge Murray fan, but even I can't think of any criteria in which Murphy should not be winning. Anyone who thinks otherwise is too young to realize how huge of a star he was in the 80's. And it was well earned.

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I don't know, I think Murrays continuous success vs Murphys 8 years of superstardom makes it close.

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This success you speak of is what exactly? Indie cred? He has undoubtedly made some great movies over the years. Somehow, the absolute stinkers and mail-ins go completely unnoticed. Regardless, a solid 30 year career is nowhere near as successful as being the biggest star in the world for a decade.

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Ok, yeah, agreed.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

Valid points.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

Dan Akroyd starred in more films, wrote more, produced more, had more guest appearances and overall has been a great deal more prolific than Bill Murray in nearly all respects. The only thing Bill completely outshines him in is the number of awards he has won, and you can probably make an argument for popularity in Bill's favor as well. Chevy Chase is right up there with them, especially with his Walk of Fame star. It was a tough call, but in the end I had to vote for Dan.

Had Steve Martin been on the list it wouldn't even be close [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

<font color="teal">~TG</font> [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

Good poll. I voted Eddie Murphy and don't think it's very close.

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Good poll. I voted Eddie Murphy and don't think it's very close.

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Agreed totally. I believe I read somewhere that Murphy has the biggest box office gross among movies released during the summer months. Plus Raw wins this alone.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

Delirious &gt; Raw, IMO.

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An oscar nomination is pretty serious cred for a former comic.

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This success you speak of is what exactly? Indie cred? He has undoubtedly made some great movies over the years. Somehow, the absolute stinkers and mail-ins go completely unnoticed. Regardless, a solid 30 year career is nowhere near as successful as being the biggest star in the world for a decade.

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Outside of Ghostbusters, Stripes, and Groundhog Day, Murray's pictures have not done great boxoffice.

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I think it's gotta be Murphy. He was the biggest thing in the prime of his career, and ushered in stand-up comedy's most successful era. Every stand-up comedian wanted to be Eddie Murphy, to come on stage to explosions and dancers, wearing a leather suit in front of a packed Madison Square Garden. He was a stand-up comedian that was as big as a rock star. As a movie star he was also A-list, one of the top paid film stars of his era, and every film was a guaranteed hit because he was in it. Beverly Hills Cop was one of the biggest movies ever, still 42st on top grossing movies of all time (Ghostbusters made almost 4 million more, but was not carried by Murray alone), and even the terrible sequel Bev Hills Cop II did better than superior movies like Gremlins, Lethal Weapon II and True Lies.

I also considered Mike Myers, due to the big success of Wayne's World, Shrek and the massive success of the Austin Powers films. But, despite his movie success, Mike never affected the world of stand-up the way Eddie did. It is however worth noting, when talking of "success" that there are four Mike Myers movies in the top 100 all-time grosses: Shrek II (3rd), Shrek (27th) and the 2nd and 3rd Austin Powers movies (58th and 55th respectively.)

So for me it's Eddie Murphy 1st and Mike Myers 2nd. If Steve Martin counts I'd put him 3rd, but he wasn't really a cast member.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

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An oscar nomination is pretty serious cred for a former comic.

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Beverly Hills cop did 230 million in 1984. His total US gross is approached 3 billion. Way more impressive.

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It is however worth noting, when talking of "success" that there are four Mike Myers movies in the top 100 all-time grosses: Shrek II (3rd), Shrek (27th) and the 2nd and 3rd Austin Powers movies (58th and 55th respectively.)

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Nice post. I do think I tend to underrate Myers. Not my cup of tea, but he has had a very good run. It's also worth noting that Murphy is featured in two of those movies as well.

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i voted eddie murphy b/c its the correct answer though i like murray the most.

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Box office wise which basically correlates with popularity, Adam Sandler has been much more successful than many of you seem to be giving him credit for. He has been among the elite club of top paid actors for many years now and most importantly his movies are often very low budget which means his backend take of the profits is huge. I think only Murphy and Myers could possibly have made more money but my guess is still Sandler.

However, I'd put him toward the bottom of this list as far as how much I've enjoyed his movies compared to the others.

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An oscar nomination is pretty serious cred for a former comic.

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But that doesn't equal "success." Plus it's just one role.

I read an interview with Steve Martin recently, for the release of his Pink Panther film (before it was pushed back to February release hell.) Steve, who has done some dramatic roles recently, was asked what he thought was harder, comedy or drama. Steve's reply (going from memory, so paraphrased):

Comedy is harder, it's really no contest. Listen, I have a friend, a comedian, who was getting acclaim for a dramatic role he did. I asked him, I said, "You're getting a lot of acclaim for this, that's great, was it tough?" He said, "Steve, comedy is so much harder. I'm getting great reviews because I stared at someone without blinking. And the only reason I was able to do it is because I was thinking about what I would have for dinner that night."


Personally, I immediately thought that Steve's friend was Bill Murray and the film was Lost in Translation. This story is neither here nor there, but I thought it was funny.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

what the hell? where am I
http://www.nndb.com/people/052/00002...zurinsky01.jpg

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</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />
I think its interesting to see how we judge "success". Personally, if Eddie Murphy had died in a car crash in 1988, he wins this poll easily.

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If success = money (which is pretty much my barometer) Murphy takes this one hands down.

If success = most talented, then we can get into a discussion.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

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I also considered Mike Myers, due to the big success of Wayne's World, Shrek and the massive success of the Austin Powers films. But, despite his movie success, Mike never affected the world of stand-up the way Eddie did. It is however worth noting, when talking of "success" that there are four Mike Myers movies in the top 100 all-time grosses: Shrek II (3rd), Shrek (27th) and the 2nd and 3rd Austin Powers movies (58th and 55th respectively.)

So for me it's Eddie Murphy 1st and Mike Myers 2nd. If Steve Martin counts I'd put him 3rd, but he wasn't really a cast member.

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Sorry, Mike Myers goes not get credit for the SHREK movies. Come on now. Mike is pretty much a one-trick pony with the Austin Powers stuff.. I would put Sandler ahead of him who has opened many massively profitable movies.

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An oscar nomination is pretty serious cred for a former comic.

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Aykroyd and Downey Jr. also have had Oscar noms.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

I think another intersting question is which cast was most successful. I tivo the old SNL reruns on NBC latenight, and some of the old casts were loaded (not necessarily with talent, but with box office pull).

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

when was Ben Stiller an actual cast member???

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Sorry, Mike Myers goes not get credit for the SHREK movies.

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Why not? His voice, his character. I doubt that Shrek II is the 3rd top grossing movie of all time without him.

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Come on now. Mike is pretty much a one-trick pony with the Austin Powers stuff.. I would put Sandler ahead of him who has opened many massively profitable movies.

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Sandler doesn't have one movie in the top 100. Without counting the Shrek movies Myers has 2. Sandler has 2 barely cracking the top 100 if you adjust for inflation (without adjustment they are buried around the 140s), Big Daddy and Waterboy, and none of these were anywhere near as big as the Austin Powers films. Sandler has done some big box office, but he has raked in nowhere near as much as Myers or Murphy.

Eddie Murphy in his day could take a movie like "Coming to America" or "Vampire in Brooklyn" and turn it into a hit. I really agree with a previous poster that some of our younger guys might not remember just how big Eddie Murphy was.

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So for me it's Eddie Murphy 1st and Mike Myers 2nd. If Steve Martin counts I'd put him 3rd, but he wasn't really a cast member.

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Is successful the highest grossing movies, or is it most money made?

If it's the latter, Sandler is 2nd, and by a fairly large margin. The fact that he owns a production company, writes a good deal of his movies, and serves as an executive producer on some other films, helps him out a lot.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

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Is successful the highest grossing movies, or is it most money made?

If it's the latter, Sandler is 2nd, and by a fairly large margin. The fact that he owns a production company, writes a good deal of his movies, and serves as an executive producer on some other films, helps him out a lot.

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This is a good point.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

By that standard, Mike Myers owns them all between the Austin Powers &amp; Shrek franchises.

Edddiieeeeee
 

what have you done for me lately, Eddie? http://www.moviegeekz.com/media/daddy_day_care.jpg

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when was Ben Stiller an actual cast member???



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Its about time someone brought this up.

Re: Edddiieeeeee
 

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what have you done for me lately, Eddie? http://www.moviegeekz.com/media/daddy_day_care.jpg

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This made: barely less than American Wedding, (less than 1mil less), more than Cat in the Hat, Charlies Angels II, more than Legally Blonde II, Lara Croft-The Cradle of Life, Old School, Shanghai Nights, 28 Days Later, Tears of the Sun and Once Upon A Time In Mexico, (among many others) in 2003. Even Eddie Murphy's "Haunted Mansion" did better than all these films except Legally Blonde II and Cat In The Hat.

You should know this, seeing as if you get half.

Re: Who\'s More Successful? SNL Edition
 

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when was Ben Stiller an actual cast member???



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Its about time someone brought this up.

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Worse, why is Ben Stiller getting votes and Belushi has nothing?